


Frostbite

by ria_green



Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Genre: Adam is a Bad Man, But also a baddie amirite, Light Sadism, M/M, POV Adam, Twisted and Fluffy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 01:26:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29127180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ria_green/pseuds/ria_green
Summary: Adam likes Langa. Some days, he doesn't even want to break him.
Relationships: Hasegawa Langa/Shindo Ainosuke | Adam
Comments: 16
Kudos: 145





	Frostbite

**Author's Note:**

> This is about as fluffy as a relationship between sadist Adam and space cadet Langa can be - Adam only wanting to see Langa cry in bed, cough cough.

Adam believes he was normal at some point in his life.

He remembers how simple happiness was during his childhood. A warm embrace smelling like flowers from his mother. A gentle pat on the back from his father. The thrill of learning how to skateboard, with his parents behind him for every accomplishment and stumble. 

He remembers what happened after the crash too. 

The world seemed to lose its color and sparkle. The friendly faces that had frequented their family manor turned into demonic, greedy visages. They whispered about inheritance, the company, the board, assuming he couldn't understand because he was a child. He was a child, but he grew up too quickly afterwards.

His aunt gained guardianship over him - his parents' will having mysteriously named her as their "in loco parentis" representative. 

Every minute of his schedule was carefully regimented to groom him into the perfect heir. He wasn't allowed to have friends or hobbies. His skateboard was the first thing she threw out. 

Adam felt like he was suffocating, rotting slowly within his golden cage. Nobody could see it. He never lost his carefully polished smile on the outside. His aunt would punish him if he gave any indication that he was less than perfect.

One day, he was playing tennis (an "acceptable" sport) at the country club and accidentally hit his opponent with the ball.

"Accidentally" meaning that Adam had overheard his opponent calling him an "orphaned freak" and "rich woman's puppet" and oops, he seemed to have lost control of his racket. 

Adam rushes to the other side of the net, effusive and false apologies prepared on his lips. His fallen opponent stares up at him warily with a bloody nose and tears in his eyes. 

He feels his long-quiet heart begin to beat again. 

He ponders the feeling, allowing himself a moment in which to repent. When no such regret or remorse appears, Adam decides to accept his new normal. Experiencing people's pain, despair, and fear is the only thing that brings him joy. 

Having an outlet helps Adam craft charming and less robotic smiles, coaxes him to fall asleep at night peacefully, and empowers him to face his aunt without giving in to the impulse to scream. 

In fact, the occasional sadistic venting is so effective for his performance that, by high school, he has convinced his aunt to loosen her reins. 

Secretly, he begins practicing skateboarding again. He's talented, and always has been, so he picks things up like he never left.

Unfortunately, Adam doesn't get the same, uncomplicated rush from skateboarding he used to. No one is there to clap and cheer when he succeeds, and bandage his knees and kiss the pain in his wounds anymore when he falls. 

But it's better than the numb nothingness he felt before. 

By the time he graduates college at the top of his class, he has founded S, an increasingly popular underground skating race, with three other people. One might even call those co-founders "friends" of a sort. 

Adam becomes CEO at the company his parents founded, and the brief happiness he obtains from skateboarding is no longer sufficient to deal with the stress of his new position. 

He gets rougher and more ruthless in his races. His favorite thing to do is to pick promising skateboarders and crush them into the ground physically and mentally. His opponents walk away with serious injuries, or don't walk away at all. 

The co-founders of S are uneasy. They say that he's changed.

They don't know the truth. Adam has always been like this - he's just never shown his true colors. S is the one place he feels free to be his full self. 

One of the co-founders is particularly idealistic and challenges him to a beef. Adam wins, of course. Tadashi Kikuchi loses his former name. As agreed, he quits skating and promises to work for him from then on. 

Adam is fair. He pays him exorbitantly as an assistant. If he also mocks Kikuchi, tests the limits of his morality, and forces him to be close to but never touch his former passion - well, that's just par for the course. 

In the past few years, Adam hasn't even bothered to visit S in-person. There's no one there worth racing. Joe and Cherry still occasionally frequent the race, but he knows how they skate and exactly how to beat them. 

Then, on a certain balmy night, he witnesses a miracle - snowflakes falling in Okinawa. 

And his heart pounds _ba-thump, thump, thump_ once more.

Adam immediately orders Kikuchi to investigate everything about the teenage skateboarder.

He discovers that Hasegawa Langa is an 18-year-old recent transplant from Canada. His mother's hometown was Okinawa, and they've moved back for her work. His father Oliver, an Olympic silver medalist in snowboarding, passed away last year. 

Unbelievably, Langa was a complete rookie at skateboarding on the night that he defeated Shadow. 

Based on the exhaustive list of youth awards Langa won in Canada, he was a talented snowboarder. He very well may have gone pro one day, if his father's death and move to Japan hadn't occurred.

Not every snowboarder could transfer their skills to skateboarding. Langa was that one in a million talent. 

And he was being completely wasted on that redhead Kiyan Reki.

Kiyan Reki has been coming to S for several years. He was an employee at the local skateboard shop (soon to be going out of business) and was considered an above-average skateboarder at best.

As Langa's classmate, Reki introduced Langa to the skateboarding world, taught him the basic moves, and provided an acceptable customized skateboard, but that was where his connection with Langa should end. 

Reki could never help Langa reach his full potential. Only Adam could. 

Reki was similar to the previous Kikuchi - passionate and idealistic, but lacking the skills to back up his big words. He loses his beef with Adam miserably.

As a result, Langa must agree to skate with Adam. 

Funnily enough, Langa doesn't show any signs of hostility towards Adam until the moment Reki gets hurt. Adam is sure that Joe, Cherry, and Shadow have nothing positive to say about him, but none of their opinions on him seem to have sunk in for Langa. All he has in his eyes is skating.

Adam observes Langa clumsily attempt his signature uphill move. The boy never once doubts, unlike Reki, that it was a false story. 

It's almost...cute.

Unfortunately, any goodwill Adam gains from Langa is set back to zero after hurting his friend. 

But Adam doesn't need Langa to like him in order to force Langa to skate with him. 

Using his atypical and creative way of skateboarding, Langa comes close to winning against Adam - closer than anyone has ever come before. In the end, he's just a few seconds short from the finish line. 

Adam's request is that Langa learn how to skate from him, and no one else. 

Reki and Miya are devastated. Langa visibly droops upon realizing he isn't allowed to skate with Reki any longer. 

Adam would almost feel bad about Langa's disappointed doe eyes, if it didn't send zings of pleasure down his spine.

The evil dragon has stolen away the princess from the brave but foolhardy knight.

And whatever shall Adam do with the beautiful princess who is now in his hands?

Adam was expecting resistance, resentment, and fear. He gets none of that.

It's true that Langa is visibly unhappy in the beginning.

"You went too far," he says, and refuses to speak a word further to Adam in their first lesson. 

However, after Adam pays for Reki's medical treatment and invests enough in their local skateboarding shop to keep their doors open, Langa seems to have forgotten his grudge entirely. 

Nowadays, Langa is just as excited to learn how to skate from Adam as he was from Reki. In other words, the captive princess is getting along just fine with the dragon in their cave.

Adam detects no intimidated worship from Langa during their lessons. Adam is the most famous skateboarder in the S circuit, and many skateboarders would kill to be trained by him. Yet Langa only admires Adam in the same way he would appreciate interesting skateboarding moves executed by any number of less-gifted skateboarders. 

He is equally unfazed by Adam's blatant invasions of his personal space and privacy, or Adam's frequent demonstrations of maniacal laughter and other villainous behavior.

The only reaction Langa has when Adam eventually reveals his identity as Shindo Ainosuke, the CEO of one of the top companies in Japan, is, "Ah. I think my mom works for one of your subsidiaries."

And, "So did you want me to call you Ainosuke-san instead?" 

"...no. I prefer Adam."

Adam would call him simple-minded, but it's probably something closer to innocence. Like the SNOW that is his skateboarding moniker, Langa is as pure as a winter's first snowfall. 

Despite his naivete, he doesn't seem to have a strict concept of morality. Rather than good and evil, Langa separates actions into "nice" and "not nice."

Adam purposely injuring his best friend - "not nice."

Adam giving him advice that improved his speed by 5% - "nice."

Adam berating Kikuchi as a dog - "not nice." 

(Langa admonishes Adam. "Dogs are great, but I don't think Tadashi-san likes you calling him that. You should stop." And Adam...does.)

If Adam apologizes sincerely and makes up for his mistakes, Langa doesn't hold it against him for being "not nice."

But Langa isn't a pushover, either. 

When Adam asks him if he has any goals, Langa admits honestly, "I'm going to challenge you to another race eventually."

"Oh? You know now that I'm Shindo Ainosuke. Will you ask for a better position for your mother? Do you want my money? Or resources?"

Langa shakes his head. "No. I just want to skateboard with Reki again. I think he's still bummed about the results of our beef."

Adam scoffs. "The untalented redhead? He wouldn't even be considered an appetizer."

"You're being mean again," Langa says severely. "Reki is great! He knows a lot, he's patient and kind, and he is super cool when he skateboards."

Adam allows himself a moment of childishness. "I'm cooler."

"You're faster," Langa acknowledges. "And you are cool, in your own way."

"Hmph. Fine. You better work harder if you want a chance of ever beating me."

Smiling, Langa calls over his shoulder as he skates away, "I'll catch up to you soon, Adam!"

_Ba-thump._

Adam presses his hand against his chest in confusion. 

How strange. He's never had that reaction to someone smiling before. He should examine this feeling.

What would be the opposite of Langa's smile?

Concentrating, Adam attempts to picture Langa agonized and despairing. Somehow, the picture never manages to form in his mind, and it puts a bad taste in his mouth to even try.

A different attempt. Crying, then.

Adam visualizes Langa looking up at him with large teary eyes, nose reddened, and face flushed. 

_"Adam, please..." Langa begs._

His heart is beating faster than ever before. For some reason, Adam feels a fire in his chest start to burn. He clears his throat to calm himself down.

Nothing has changed; he still wants to see Langa crying and overwhelmed in order to satisfy his sadistic tendencies. 

Everything is normal. There is absolutely no meaning to the fact that in his imagination, the scene didn't take place on the skateboard track, but on the bed instead. No meaning at all. 

Well, perhaps he'll hold off on breaking Langa.

Just for a little longer. 

**Author's Note:**

> Don't pretend the leg touching scene in Episode 3 didn't get to you in a "What's wrong with me...why do I feel like this?" kind of way!
> 
> Apparently no one has written an Adam/Langa fic yet, so I had to create the damn relationship tag. Come, join me in the pit! 
> 
> I wrote this after Episode 4 of SK8, so I'll probably be Jossed by next week.


End file.
